Hospital garment



y y 1943 an, SEVERANCE 2,319,089

HOSPITAL GARMENT Filed Sept. 22, 1939 I Patented May 11, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HOSPITAL. GARMENT Louise Severance, Point Pleasant, N. J. Application September 22, 1939, Serial No. 296,021

b 1 Claim. (01. 2-114) This invention relates to hospital garments. It is-designed to meet all requirements of post operative care, general examinations without undue exposure of the patient, dressings, bandaging, intravenous feeding, blood transfusions, blood tests, intravenous anesthesia, stimulants and any treatment administered by hypodermic: Care. of arm fractures and casts without destruction of the garment (which is the practice noW in hospitals. The garment now in use requires that the sleeve be cut from the garment entirely to. meet the. need of arm fracture treatment). This invention also makes it possible to massage. or bathe. any one part. of the body without exposing any other'part of the. body at the same time.

The. present garment now in general hospital use is. of box like design and proportions and has but one openingatthe back held together by numerous strings. This does not meet the requirements of easy' accessability to the body for treatment and necessitates undue. exposure as well as unnecessary exertion to the patient caused by its lack of adaptability to various treatments required in nursing. the patient, adding avoidable handicaps to his or her recovery and there is no hospital garment now in use which is designed to function for the nursing mother.

The garment herein illustrated is in the form of a maternity garment, which is so adapted that it may be put on or removed with a minimum amount of physical eifort to the patient or undue exposure of any part of the body to air or draught.

Nerve shock caused by critical operationsv 1 Caesarean births, severe accidents and prolonged periods of pain cause extreme sensitivity to air and the touch of human hands irrespective of how gentle an effort is made to administer any necessary treatment and assistance. The present garment now in use, penalizes and exacts a wholly unnecessary toll from such patients.

A mother suffering debility and extreme exhaustion directly following the birth of a child is still further handicapped by a garment now in general hospital use which fails to meet the requirements of breast feeding without undue exertion resulting from the inaccessability to the breast and undue exposure to other parts of the body of the mother while nursing, made unavoidable by its present clumsy design and construction.

According to this invention this maternity model of coat for hospital use meets all requirements of normal treatment and convalesl9, while the two back cence and adequately meets all requirements, for any unforseen complications that may arise, such as easy accessability to the breasts to take care of any excess drainage of milk and all. medicinal.

, applications required in treatment of them, to-

gether with all intravenous treatments through the. arm without. removing the garment from the shoulder; all treatment necessitating the use of hypodermics; all abdominal bandagingand dressings without removing the garment or having to. raise the. garment above the abdomen. The body can be made entirely free from any interference of the gown for all vaginal examinations and treatment and this feature insures perfect free dom while the bed-pan is in. use.

A split, collar is shown. with a device for closing it in the back and, front, and split sleeves with overlapping edges which, close at the Mist so the arm is entirely covered, and when necessity demands it the arm can be exposed from shoulder to hand without exposing any other part of the body.

It is a garment that'fulfills all the psychological requirements of attractiveness in its design and construction as well as allutilitarian needs and functional necessities.

Other :features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 shows the garment as seen from the front.

Figure 2 is a similar back view.

Figure 3 is a front view of the garment as spread out.

The garment is shown as having a right hand section Ill of a collar, and a left hand section II of the collar which are provided with front tying strings l2 and back tying strings l3.

Each collar section l0 and II forms the turned over edge of a shoulder piece [4 which is made by stitching together at a shoulder seam l5 a front breadth l6 and a back breadth IT, with an intermediate side breadth Fla.

The front breadths I6 are shown as connected by a front It! extending entirely across the front of the garment below the elongated neck opening breadths I! are stitched to the side breadths Ila, but are free at their other edges.

To put on the garment the front breadth l6 may be laid face up on the patient with the front strings l2 untied, and the arm hole 20 beneath one shoulder seam I5 is passed over the patients hand and up the patients arm to the shoulder.

The arm hole easily slips up patients arm 2 because the sleeve 2| is shown slit at 22 from the seam 23 by which the sleeve material is stitched to the front breadth l6 and back breadth I1, and extending through the cuff 24. The nurse, therefore, in putting the garment on a patient that can hardly be stirred merely has to gather the rear breadth H in folds, hold the folds in one hand and slip the arm hole up the patients arm.

When the rear shoulder the bight of breadth lies at the patients the sleeve 2| may be folded over the patients arm, and the cuff 24 tied by passing one cuff string 25 around the patients wrist, through an opening 26 in the cuff near the other string 21 of the same cuff, and then tying the free ends of the strings 25 and 21 around the patients wrist.

The sleeve 2| tends to 'work itself together because the slit at 22 is formed by overlapping edges 28 and 29, of the sleeve, the underlying edge 28 being the edge of the back breadth of the sleeve 2| and shown springing from the arm hole 20 about an inch or more in front of the shoulder seam IS. The edge 28 is the front edge of the back breadth 30 which forms part of the sleeve 2|, and that breadth 38 is cut full so as to conform to a moderate bend of the elbow. The front breadth 3| of the sleeve 2| has its edge 29 stitched to the seam of the armhole 28 an inch or more back of the shoulder seam l5, so that this front breadth 3| overlies the sleeve back sleeve breadth 3D, and along its opposite edge is stitched by a seam 32 to the front sleeve breadth 30, the seam 32 shown as springing from the arm hole 20 at the point where the back breadth I1 is stitched to the side breadth Hot.

The seam terminates at the cuff 24, about midway between the edge 29 from which the tie 21 springs and the opening 26, so that the edge 29 overlies the edge 28 at the cuff 24 by about two inches when tied in place. This permits the front sleeve breadth 3| to be cut full and yet tend to overlie the back sleeve breadth 30.

One sleeve of the garment may thus be put on the patient. It is equally easy to slip the patients other hand through the other armhole without effort, because, when the neck ties l2 and I3 are untied, the neck opening I9 is shown as permitting that shoulder of the garment and its arm hole to be stretched well on toward three feet away from the first arm hole.

The nurse is thus able to put both sleeves of the garment on a patient with arms almost outstretched with no need to do more than slightly lift the arms, one at a time.

When both arms of the patient have been slipped into their sleeves the body of the garment may be adjusted. to smooth it out in position, and the two back ties |3 tied and then adjusted and then the front ties |2 tied, and the patient is comfortable without even having to move the head if the back ties l3 are tied at one side of the neck before the garment is finally pulled into shape.

The seams 33 by which the front breadth I1 is stitched to the side breadths |'|a may be left open at 34 and the edges of the opening 34 hemmed, thus providing an opening for each breast. 1

In the form shown each opening 34 is adapted to be covered by a pointed cape 39 stitched to the margin 35 of the neck opening l9, to the collar seam 36 at the top, and to the shoulder seam l5. From the end of the shoulder seam IS the edge hem 31 comes down to the point 38.

The garment may include a sash or belt which is shown as stitched at 4| to one of the back breadths H, at the waist line, shown about half way down the garment.

Having thus described certain embodiments of this invention, what is claimed is:

A garment including a continuous front covering both shoulders, slit sleeves having continuous fronts and backs, slit cuffs at the ends of the sleeves, devices for closing the cuffs to cause each sleeve to close its slit, a centrally slit back attached at the shoulders and sides to the front, a collar split at the back and split at the front, said front split extending down 'said front far enough to enable the shoulder end of the back to be pulled over and then slipped up the patients arm and slid into place without moving the patient, and fastening devices for the front and back of the collar.

LOUISE SEVERANCE. 

